


Send Me On My Way

by kythen



Series: pictures of you, pictures of me [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, dorks still very much being dorks in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 15:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12750885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kythen/pseuds/kythen
Summary: Teenaged boyfriends crossing distances and being in love.Kuroo gets the best (belated) birthday gift ever.Sequel to"When Can I See You Again?"





	Send Me On My Way

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUROO 2017!
> 
> -slides in with a last minute birthday entry-

The afternoons turn cold with the coming of autumn and Kuroo adapts—meaning that he prepares to go into hibernation under two layers of blankets and at least two layers of clothes on at all times. Despite being a November baby, Kuroo's body was not made to withstand the cold and Kuroo shudders in his bed, burrowing deep into his warm nest of blankets. His stomach growls and he should have been up ages ago but he doesn't want to leave the comforting warmth of his bed and head out into the less comforting cold of his room yet. Besides, Kuroo reasons as he nuzzles his face deeper into his pillows, it is still technically his birthday week and he gets to do _whatever_ he wants.

Somewhere to his left, Kuroo's phone buzzes once, then twice, then thrice, and Kuroo turns over in bed lazily, squinting to look at the stream of messages coming in slowly on the screen, all marked with Kenma's name.

**"Kuro"**

**"My mom wants you to come over"**

**"To pick up something"**

Kuroo stretches his legs out under his plush blankets, too warm and comfortable to move, and he brings his phone up to his face to type.

**"Now?"**

While waiting for a response, Kuroo switches back to his lockscreen and the corners of his lips lift in a giddy smile as he sees Sawamura smiling awkwardly back at him, badly lit by a nearby lamppost in the night and blurred around the edges by his amateur selfie skills. It is the most endearing picture Kuroo has ever had of his boyfriend, and the first real photo he had received from Sawamura, which is why he had set this as his wallpaper immediately after Sawamura had sent it to him.

Kuroo had debated long and hard with himself if he should have used the first paparazzi shot of Sawamura that Sugawara had sent him as his wallpaper but he had eventually decided against it. Sawamura had been embarrassed about it, even though it wasn't even that raunchy in Kuroo's opinion, but Kuroo doesn't want to be flashing that picture of Sawamura to anyone who happened to look at his phone. Kuroo felt strangely possessive of that picture of Sawamura, like it was his duty as Sawamura's boyfriend to protect his gorgeously hot body from everyone else's eyes. Excluding Karasuno of course, since there was no helping it when they shared the same club room and Kuroo needed someone on the inside to be taking pictures of Sawamura for him.

Sawamura would probably kill him for this, and maim Sugawara a bit, but Kuroo had received a few more pictures from an unknown number after that day, all of Sawamura and all of him decently dressed this time. They were candid shots of Sawamura at school, the classroom and the gym, smiling or sleeping or laughing or eating or getting angry at the juniors or just being _Sawamura_ in general. The pictures alleviate the ache in Kuroo's chest when he thinks about Sawamura, just enough to tide him over the lonely waves of missing Sawamura.

Kuroo has never realised it before he met Sawamura, but Miyagi is so far from Tokyo and even if they are both in Japan, Sawamura could very well be in a whole other country, a whole other continent, a whole other planet as far as Kuroo is concerned. It doesn't matter how far Kuroo is from Sawamura because it is still distance between them when all Kuroo wants is to be close to Sawamura again.

Kuroo's chest aches again and Kuroo buries his face in his pillows. He misses Sawamura so much. He wants to see him, not just in pictures, but in person. He wants to hold his hand and tell him how much he likes him until Sawamura's face turns bright red in embarrassment. Kuroo has never thought of himself as a particularly romantic person but being with Sawamura brings out giddy sides of Kuroo he never thought he had.

Kuroo's phone vibrates in his hand again and Kuroo peeks out from his pillow, shaking his hair out of his eyes until he can read Kenma's messages.

**"Mom cooked extra saury rice"**

**"She insists on feeding you"**

**"Since your parents aren't home"**

That makes Kuroo perk up and his stomach rumbles at the thought of it. Slowly, ever so slowly, Kuroo rolls over in bed and sticks a leg out of his blanket, shuddering at the chill that runs up his skin. He braces himself and sticks another leg out, turning until both his legs hang off the side of his bed. Then he braces his feet on the floor and drags himself out of bed zombie-style, successfully waking up for the day in the middle of the afternoon.

Lunch, or more accurately, brunch, had been a concern for Kuroo before Kenma had messaged him and Kuroo had been thinking about what to make which wouldn't take too much time or use up too many dishes. But now that he has food—his favourite, no less—waiting for him over at Kenma's, that is one problem solved and Kuroo yawns widely as he pulls a thick sweater over his bedhead before he heads down to the front door.

Yawning again as he pulls the front door open, Kuroo nearly walks into someone standing right on his front step and he startles, taking a hurried step backwards into his house before he collides with them. It isn't Kuroo's parents or any of his other wayward family members and nobody else had any business standing right in front of Kuroo's house in the middle of the day so Kuroo brings himself up to his full height, ready to intimidate or fight as he stares down at the person standing before him.

"Surprise?" Sawamura greets him softly, his eyes dancing with amusement at the sight of Kuroo puffed up like a startled cat before him.

"Sawamura?" Kuroo asks incredulously, all the fight leaving his body. It is surreal seeing Sawamura in a place that Kuroo passes through daily and Kuroo blinks, looking over Sawamura's head and surveying the area outside his house to make sure that he was still in Tokyo and at the right house.

"Hey, I'm right here." Sawamura takes a step forward, which brings him right into Kuroo's space as he grabs Kuroo's face with both hands.

Sawamura's hands are cold against Kuroo's skin and Kuroo touches the back of Sawamura's hands tentatively, sliding his fingers between the gaps of Sawamura's fingers as the realisation that Sawamura is really standing here before him sinks in.

"You're cold," Kuroo says dazedly, covering Sawamura's hands with his. Sawamura's hands are slightly smaller than his, Sawamura's handspan not quite matching up to his, but they are broad and solid and usually warm from what Kuroo can remember.

"That's because I've been standing out here while Kozume tried to convince you to get out of your house, you lazy cat," Sawamura says but there is no bite behind his words when he is smiling this wide and looks pleased with himself for surprising Kuroo. "So what got you out in the end?"

"Saury," Kuroo blurts out.

"I'm sorry I'm not saury," Sawamura laughs.

"You're better than saury." Kuroo holds Sawamura's hands in his and pulls him back into the house. The door shuts behind Sawamura and Kuroo wraps his arms around him, turning him around in a giddy half-circle until Kuroo's back meets the front door with a light _thump_. This is the warmth he remembers and misses, radiating through the layers of clothes Sawamura has on. Sawamura's arms loop around his waist and Sawamura sighs softly, echoing Kuroo's thoughts as he rests his head against Kuroo's shoulder. The ache in Kuroo's chest is still there but it is a good ache now, brimming with warm-coloured emotions which spill into his shaking voice as he breathes out against Sawamura's hair and says, "I missed you so much, Sawamura."

Sawamura's arms tighten around Kuroo, his cheek pressed to Kuroo's shoulder, and Kuroo can hear the smile on his lips, the affection in his voice as he replies, "I missed you too, Kuroo."

\---

Surprisingly, the saury rice was not just a lie to get Kuroo out of the house and it is the next best thing that today has to offer, right after Sawamura showing up at his front door. Kenma had passed the homemade bentos to Sawamura on his way to Kuroo's house and Kuroo perks up as Sawamura takes them out of his bag. There is enough for two, with side dishes included, even if Kuroo is certain that any portion of saury rice would have been enough for one (himself).

"You should have told me you were coming over," Kuroo says as he sits across from Sawamura at the dining table, all ready to dig in. "Why all the secrecy with Kenma?"

"I wanted to surprise you," Sawamura says, taking a generous mouthful of rice, "and Kozume agreed to help."

"Surprise me?"

"It was your birthday about a week ago." Sawamura's chopsticks still. "I didn't get you anything then."

Kuroo can't help the smile that spreads across his face, more happy than teasing as he asks, "Are you my present then?"

"Think of it as a belated home visit," Sawamura replies nonchalantly, even though his cheeks burn a faint shade of red.

"So... like a date?" Kuroo presses on, his smile sharpening into a delighted smirk.

"Keep that up and I'll go stay over at Kozume's instead," Sawamura tells him.

"You're staying over?" Kuroo drops the smirk, surprised. Sawamura had been carrying a duffel bag when he came in but Kuroo had not realised that he would be staying here in Kuroo's house. With Kuroo.

"Kozume said it would be fine but if it's not, I could go somewhere else..." Sawamura says, his tone questioning.

"No, it's fine! Stay over," Kuroo tells him hurriedly. "There's no one else at home now."

"Oh," Sawamura says and the lingering warmth in his face flares bright red.

 _Oh,_ Kuroo realises what he just said a second later and what it could possibly mean when it was just the two of them alone at home.

"I didn't mean it that way," Kuroo backtracks quickly. Or maybe he did, subconsciously, because it _was just the two of them alone at home_ and thinking about it that way makes Kuroo's heart pound so fast he think he might need to leave the dining table to go lie down somewhere now.

They haven't actually been dating for all that long but Kuroo is acutely conscious of how attractive Sawamura is, even more so after receiving that picture of him, and far from hoping that nothing will happen between the both of them when they were alone at home, Kuroo hopes that something will happen, if Sawamura wanted it too.

Kuroo shoves his food into his mouth and starts chewing if only to stop himself from saying anything else that would possibly make things even more awkward between them. It isn't every day that his boyfriend comes over to Tokyo to see him and Kuroo is going to make the best of it. Across the table, Sawamura clears his throat self-consciously, his face returning to its normal colour in the embarrassed silence that ensues between them.

\---

Later at night, Sawamura kisses him right out of the shower and Kuroo has just enough sense of mind to catch him around the waist before they both overbalance and go sprawling on the floor. While enthusiastic, Sawamura had misjudged the distance between them and his mouth collides with Kuroo's painfully, his chest bumping against Kuroo with all the force of a body slam. Kuroo staggers backwards and Sawamura grabs his forearms to hold him steady, his face warm against Kuroo's.

"Sorry," Sawamura mumbles out, leaning away from Kuroo. The scent of his soap and shampoo lingers between them, intimately familiar because it is the same mingled scent that Kuroo wears.

Kuroo rests his hands in the dip of Sawamura's lower back, locking his fingers together to keep Sawamura from pulling back further, and he knocks his forehead against Sawamura's, holding all of his undivided attention as they stand just inside the threshold of Kuroo's room. The rest of the house is dark, the lights turned off for the night, the only people around being Sawamura and him.

Something is happening between the both of them as Kuroo hoped and Kuroo's skin tingles where Sawamura touches him, his heart pounding in his chest where Sawamura is pressed against him. He hadn't missed the look of determination on Sawamura's face when he had stepped into Kuroo's room, surprise painting his face when he had met Kuroo in the doorway and thrown himself forward to kiss him. In fact, Kuroo thinks that Sawamura might have kissed him because he was startled more than anything and the thought of Sawamura initiating a kiss in panic makes Kuroo's lips twitch in a stifled laugh. But the fact remains that something is happening between them and Kuroo wants to keep it going.

Sawamura isn't going anywhere with Kuroo holding him like this, the both of them freshly showered and ready to turn in for the night. Sawamura doesn't wriggle out of Kuroo's arms or push him away but he does look embarrassed about basically punching Kuroo in the mouth with his.

Kuroo presses forward, nudging Sawamura with his forehead and looking into Sawamura's eyes as he smirks at him. "Wanna try that again?"

"Don't be so smug," Sawamura tells him, blinking brown eyes which swim in Kuroo's vision when he is this close to Sawamura. "The first time _you_ kissed me I nearly ended up with a split lip."

"I think you nearly split my lip this time," Kuroo runs his tongue over his bruised lips contemplatively, his smirk widening as Sawamura follows that movement with his eyes. "We should probably get more practice in while we have the chance. If you know what I mean." Kuroo wiggles his eyebrows at him.

"Just tell me to kiss you already." Sawamura laughs, cupping Kuroo's face with his hands and leaning up to press his lips against Kuroo's more gently than before.

\---

In the morning, Kuroo wakes up warm with his blankets bundled around him and a solid weight against his chest. Kuroo rarely sleeps on his back but if Sawamura wants to use him as a makeshift pillow then Kuroo can adapt. This is his first time sleeping in the same bed as Sawamura and he wonders if Sawamura had spent the whole night tucked into the crook of his arm with his head pillowed on Kuroo's shoulder or if it had been a position that Sawamura had assumed after waking up. Movement comes from Sawamura's side and Kuroo blinks sleepily up into the sunlit room, nuzzling his face into Sawamura's ruffled hair and breathing in the scent of his own shampoo on Sawamura.

"Kuroo," Sawamura's voice drifts over to him, "what's your phone password?"

"Zero six zero— Wait a minute." Kuroo wakes up and looks over Sawamura's head, catching sight of his precious phone in Sawamura's hand, one digit away from being unlocked. Kuroo lunges for his phone and misses as Sawamura moves his hand out of the way. "You sneaky little... You're trying to delete my birthday present, aren't you?"

"No, I just wanted to check out your music," Sawamura says innocently and Kuroo doesn't believe him for a second. "Zero six zero?"

"Give it here." Kuroo reaches for his phone again and Sawamura dodges his flailing arm. But Sawamura is still within reach, given that he is half-lying on Kuroo, and Kuroo closes his fingers around his wrist, rolling Sawamura over and pinning him against the bed in a tangle of limbs as he tries to get his phone back.

Flat on the bed under Kuroo, Sawamura stretches his arm out as far as it will go but Kuroo has the advantage of having longer limbs and he reaches it easily, only to find that he can't pluck it out of Sawamura's stubborn iron grip. Sawamura grins triumphantly at him and Kuroo narrows his eyes at him. Then Kuroo sticks his hands up under Sawamura's shirt without warning, pressing cold palms against Sawamura's stomach and tickling his sides with icy fingers, which makes Sawamura yelp and squirm under him, his face contorting in laughter.

Kuroo swipes his phone from Sawamura's spasming fingers, cancelling the lockscreen and shoving it into his pants pocket. Under him, Sawamura's breathing evens out as Kuroo eases up on him and Kuroo drops onto him, resting on Sawamura's broad chest and tangling his feet with his under the blankets.

"Anyway, I already backed up my phone so even if you did delete it, I have spares," Kuroo taunts him with his well-earned victory. "If that was your sole purpose of coming all the way to Tokyo and infiltrating the Kuroo house, you've failed, Sawamura."

"Damn, I've been found out. This means that I have to go now," Sawamura sighs, his chest dipping under Kuroo's. "Get off, Kuroo. I have an emergency escape to make."

"No way." Kuroo nuzzles his neck, burying his face into the warmth there. "Tell them that you've been captured indefinitely. You're staying with me now."

Sawamura hugs him around the neck, his hands finding their way into Kuroo's hair. "I guess I have no other choice then. Looks like you won't be receiving any more pictures of me from your usual source since I won't be going back to Karasuno."

Kuroo jolts, peeking up at him guiltily. "You knew about that?"

"Now I do," Sawamura says, grinning. "I figured that Suga was up to something but I never caught him in the act. I was going to check your phone for evidence but I guess I don't need to anymore."

"Sneaky," Kuroo says, impressed despite himself. He looks at Sawamura pleadingly. "Are you going to cut me off?"

"Mmm, no," Sawamura decides, patting Kuroo's head. Then he furrows his eyebrows and fixes Kuroo with a suspicious look. "He isn't sending you anything like the first picture, is he?"

"No, you're fully clothed and gorgeous in all of them," Kuroo assures him. "Well, except for the one where he caught you drooling on your textbook."

"Ugh, he would send that." Sawamura makes a face. "Show them to me."

Kuroo flips over and wriggles until he is in the same position that Sawamura had been in just now, tucked against Sawamura's side with his head pillowed on his shoulder. He has a growing, dedicated album of Sawamura pictures by now and he likes the way Sawamura's face turns bright scarlet when he sees his almost scandalously topless picture at the start of it all. It is still one of Kuroo's favourites and Kuroo flicks past it before Sawamura decides that he wants to get rid of it now, backup copies or not. The rest of the pictures are not as exciting as the first, only that Sawamura is here to comment on them in person now, filling in details about what he had been doing then or what had caused a particular expression as he recognises the individual moments.

It's nice and Kuroo burns each little anecdote into his mind to revisit them when he looks through the album again. Since they don't get to see each other often, every picture of Sawamura is like a peek into how he is doing to supplement the phone calls and messages they share every now and then. Long distance dating had been daunting to both of them when they had first initiated it at the end of summer and Kuroo can't do anything about the long periods of time when Sawamura is in Miyagi and he finds himself missing him intensely but Kuroo wouldn't give their relationship up for the world.

"Send some to me too." Sawamura prods Kuroo as they come to the end of the album.

"What, these?" Kuroo gestures towards his Sawamura album.

"No, pictures of you. You have plenty of pictures of me but I haven't received any from you." Sawamura prods him again meaningfully.

"Sure. I'll even rope Kenma in to get some hot paparazzi shots of me in the club room. Maybe even the showers."

"I don't want to ruin your friendship with Kenma to fulfil my unreasonable demands." Sawamura says, amused.

"In that case, I'll just send you nudes. Straight from the source." Kuroo leers at him.

"I'm not sending you anything like that in return," Sawamura tells him but Kuroo notices that he isn't protesting the idea of _receiving_ nudes from Kuroo.

"It's alright. I can use my imagination. But I might need a bit of inspiration." Kuroo rolls back onto Sawamura, bracing himself over him with his arms and smirking down at him. He lets a hand drift down Sawamura's side, his fingers toying with the hem of Sawamura's shirt and inching it up to reveal a stretch of delicious skin between his shirt and pants.

Sawamura catches his hand, his fingers fitting into the cracks of Kuroo's fingers as he holds him in place. Sawamura's other hand cups the back of Kuroo's neck, guiding him down to him, and his lips brush Kuroo's ear as he murmurs, "Let's save that for next time."

Kuroo had only meant to tease and he shivers at the promise in Sawamura's voice, his toes curling at the thought of what a "next time" would entail between the both of them. When Sawamura lets him go, Kuroo is certain that he is blushing, his face burning hot to the touch as he looks back at Sawamura, who seems unfazed for a change. Sawamura kisses him on the cheek then sits up, placing his hands on Kuroo's waist and easing him off so that he can scoot over to the edge of the bed.

Before Sawamura can get off the bed, Kuroo is there, looping his arms around him from behind and burrowing his face in his neck as he mumbles, "Maybe for your birthday I should go over to your house and surprise you."

Kuroo doesn't want to have to wait until next year for a next time. The next time they meet, officially, will be during the Nationals and both of them will be too busy trying to win their way through their respective matches until they can face each other on the court again. Kuroo wants that, but he also wants moments with Sawamura like this, when they aren't just rivals but boyfriends and Kuroo gets to hug and kiss and touch him when nobody else is around.

Sawamura's neck is warm and when Kuroo peeks sideways at him, he sees a telltale shade of red spreading over his skin, which was what Sawamura had been trying to hide by getting up before Kuroo could react. Not so unfazed after all, Kuroo thinks, grinning up at him.

Sawamura catches him looking and he gives up, leaning back against Kuroo and burying his face into his bedhead as he says, "I'll be waiting then."

**Author's Note:**

> When I drafted this as a sequel to "When Can I See You Again?" last year I fully intended for this to be a first time sex kind of fic but I hadn't predicted that I would participate in Kinktober 2017 and I'm still pretty burnt out from that orz... Please accept what I have to give as a humble offering for Kuroo's birthday anyway... All my Kuroo birthday fics are so rushed but my love for this cat is true, I promise...
> 
> Sanma rice is also an actual thing, or more specifically it's [Sanma Takikomi Gohan](https://highmaintenancelife.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/sanma-takikomi-gohan/).
> 
> Find me here: [tumblr](http://kythen.tumblr.com) / [twitter](http://twitter.com/catcrowcalls)


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